Burn Scars
by AnitaLife
Summary: In an attempt to live for a moment rather than survive a lifetime, Sophia joins the Survey Corps. Quickly, she learns of the horrors and pain it all brings. But everybody deserves to have that one, unobtainable dream. Eventual Levi x OC
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **I honestly don't know why I am doing this. I do know that I have the intense urge to write this, although I have no idea quite yet where it is going. So please forgive me for a rough start. This chapter will probably undergo heavy rewriting.

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I am the master at dodging. Be it of physical attacks or busy work, I will find a way to maneuver around it if I want to.

I was stretched out on the roof of my house dreaming that afternoon. Under me, I heard my mother yell and call for me, figuring I was probably a mile off. I smirked at my own cleverness.

This was the life I wanted to lead. Sit back, relax, and just not do a single thing. That is why I wanted to join the Military Police. As I gazed up at the clouds, I was content with my plans for the perfect crime. My only concern was how I would enlist into the military without my parents disowning me. We knew first hand the pain that being anything near the military caused.

You see, my father was in the Survey Corps. He was one of the few who tended to the horses, which was as safe as any of the other jobs in the Corps. We never knew which mission would be his last.

I tried to think of how I would slip into training, feeling the lull of the day hit me. The siren's call of sleep had its hold on me; the bells began to ring. My eyes shot open before it even had the chance to ring twice.

Dad was home!

I got up quickly and scampered across the roof and down the side of my home, only to run back around the front. What good would it do me if my mom found out that I hid up there? It was one of my safe havens, one which I was not bound to relinquish easily.

By the time I got to the main road, there was already a thick lining of people watching the procession. People watched from windows or stacked objects at the back of the crowd if they were not one of the lucky few who got up front. One advantage to my height was the ability to circumvent the problem of being in the back. I dipped and wove through the men and women ahead of me, hardly even brushing any of them.

I saw the troops march through. It was not something somebody got used to. The haunted faces, the bloodied bodies, the absence of those who had gone out with them. I watched them pass with nervous breath. It would all be worth it when I saw my father.

Person after person marched passed me. Some hobbled. Some were riding in the carts. None of them were him.

Then I saw Joseph. He was one of my father's closest friends in the Survey Corps. He rode on his horse, gazing ahead blankly. I could tell by the way his hair fell that it was either heavy with sweat or blood. I didn't really want to find out.

"Joseph!" I called. "Joseph! Where's my father?"

His eyes were brought back to reality. He glanced around before his eyes settled on mine. They flashed with something unrecognizable. Later I would know that look all to well.

Despair.

"Joseph," I repeated. "Where is he?"

He looked away. I heard him croak out something that sounded like an apology.

The reality was dawning on me, yet I refused to listen to logic. "Where is he?"

Again, he couldn't look at me.

"Joseph!"

He seemed determined to look anywhere but at me. Tears began to creep into his eyes. It was then that I really came to grips with it.

An blade of pure fire and stony ice sunk into my chest. My heart no longer existed at that point. Everything became deafeningly silent. A torrent of emotions rose within me.

I turned around and pushed my way back through the crowd. I didn't bother with any dancing around people. I just went forward. People seemed to just clear my path, because I did not feel a single touch until I got home.

"Sophie!" My mother stuck her head out of the window. "There you are. I need you to clean the windows before Dad gets home!"

I don't know why, but I just went inside and did what I was told. My body was working on its own while my mind was racing in different directions. Do I get angry? Do I get sad? Do I scream and break things? Do I just passively sit here and do what I must to survive?

I knew a few new things while I polished the window so it looked to be not even there. One, I did not want to know the details of his death. Two, I would no longer be able to sit in the sun and sleep away the whole day.

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**Author's Note: **Please remember to review or something! I know this is really short and it doesn't cover much, but this is just the first chapter. It will get better in the following chapters. Stick around for when it gets interesting!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Well thanks for sticking around to at least read chapter two! I know the first chapter was pretty rough... It'll probably be redone later. There are other stories I have to write, or at least continue, before then.

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I still remember the day my father died. It's something hard to forget. But what I remember the most is the change and the decision I made.

I decided to join the Survey Corps. Not to follow in his footsteps. Not for vengeance, like many people did. I joined because I was so wrong when I was younger. Thinking about how ignorant and lazy I was back then cut into me like a blade. Nobody knew about it, and it was most certainly going to stay that way.

I did it because nobody else wanted to join for the right reasons. Everybody either wanted to go into it for revenge, for destruction, for lack of a purpose otherwise. I didn't go into it for any of those reasons.

I am not quite sure why I did, actually. I know those reasons weren't as fundamental as they normally were, though.

I dipped my hands into the stream, trying to get the blood off. Titan blood evaporated. Human blood didn't. It was tenacious.

"von Klein!" A fresh recruit ran up to me.

I looked up. "Yeah?"

"We've got another one."

I sprang up, ignoring the water and the blood. "Show me."

We ran off. He lead the way, looking as stunned as most people did on their first trip out. I was close on his heels, having forgotten my previous task of ridding myself of blood. I was about to get neck deep in it yet again. I tried not to think of how bothersome this was, as this was a dying soldier I was off to face.

The man was against a tree. He was paler than the recruit. Blood was pouring out of a stump where his left leg used to be. With each passing second, he looked closer and closer to death.

I dropped to my knees right next to him. "Sorry it took me so long."

He opened one eye. I noticed the sweat that slicked his brow, and the way his jaw twitched ever so slightly. He watched as I took out my things, the bandages and the bottle of vine.

"Do you have family back at home?" I took the cork out of the bottle and put some of the liquid onto a cloth.

"I have a sister," he strained. "And maybe a nephew or niece soon."

"Nobody wife or anything?"

He shook his head.

"I'm not going to lie. This is going to hurt as much as it did to lose the leg itself." I put a hand on what remained of his leg. "So do it for your sister."

I placed a damp cloth on the wound. He fought back a screech. I hastily tied up his leg with the bandages. Stopping the bleeding was not my biggest objective at the moment. I just needed to get him good enough that he would survive the rest of the trip home, and so he could be treated by an actual doctor.

I made sure the bandages were secure before I sat back. I didn't bother cleaning my hands. There were other things I was concerned about.

"That bottle of vine," he muttered. "Can I have some?"

I chuckled a bit. "Just leave some for me."

I handed him the bottle. He took a heavy swig and handed it back. Before corking it, I took a small sip. It felt warm going down, sitting in my stomach in the most comforting way. The edge wore off the slightest bit.

"What am I going to do now with only one leg?" He sighed. "I doubt I'll be much good to the Corps now."

"You could always join the Military Police. You'd be the best soldier in the whole branch."

He laughed at that. I stashed the remaining bandages back away.

The recruit from earlier came running up again. He panted heavily. I wondered what a poor kid could do to get assigned the duty of sprinting around and delivering messages, especially to the medics. And on his first trip out.

"We're retreating."

"Retreating?" I stood up. "But things are going so well! Did they tell you why?"

"Maybe retreat isn't the right word." He thought for a moment. "Returning was what they used."

"Why are we returning?"

"Something about Trost." He looked nervous. "Something really big is going down in Trost."

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**Author's Note: **What, did you think Levi would show up this soon? I have plans for it! Don't worry, sweet readers! Remember to review and tell me your thoughts! I hope you liked it!


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